


Make Good Art

by truethingsproved



Series: Talk revolution to me, baby. [11]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Multi, cosette/grantaire friendship is magic, grantaire has a cat named cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/truethingsproved/pseuds/truethingsproved
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette and Grantaire simply fit.</p><p>It seems like it would be cruel to begrudge them this in any way, and so when Cosette stands and grabs Grantaire’s hand so he can spin her before dipping her dramatically, only for the half of the café taken up by Les Amis can clap, Marius just grins. After a moment, Enjolras does the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make Good Art

The first time Grantaire came to dinner at Dr. Valjean’s house, he was convinced that Grantaire was Cosette’s boyfriend and spent roughly twenty minutes trying not to seem menacing while really, truly, secretly wanting nothing _more_ than to be menacing. Finally, Cosette had gone to the bathroom, and Dr. Valjean turned to Grantaire and asked, “So, are you two dating?”

He burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking and his eyes squeezed closed. “Oh, god, _no_ , sir. Most definitely not. She’s a great kid but— _no._ Nothing like that.”

Dr. Valjean visibly relaxed. “Just friends, then?”

At that, Grantaire had smiled and shook his head and said, “There’s nothing ‘just’ about it. She’s my closest friend. She’s practically family. You raised a really great person,” he added, oddly sincere, and Dr. Valjean sat back, his cheeks pink at the praise.

He left them alone after that, and when Cosette came back to the living room and played the movie again, she and Grantaire ended up cuddling on the far end of the sofa. They’d known each other for less than four months at this point, but already, they knew how close they were going to be.

\------

There are, Cosette reasons, some friendships that are so strong, so intense, so unbreakable, that it only makes sense that they learn how to communicate without actually speaking.

This is why she understands when Grantaire shoves his laptop at her across the table at the Musain, a Word document pulled up and waiting for her to read. Then, he brushes his fingers across her wrist, and in response she pushes the laptop back to him when she’s finished reading and reaches over to flick the inside of his elbow.

“Fantastic,” he says out loud, startling Enjolras, who’s doing homework next to them, though now he’s glancing between them as if he’s not sure if he’s missed something or not. Marius has gotten used to their half-silent communications and just asks, mildly, “are you two leaving us for each other yet?”

“Yep,” Grantaire answers, standing to throw something out, just as Cosette answers, “We’re going to go mountain biking in the Alps for our honeymoon.”

Enjolras still looks confused, so Cosette gestures to the laptop. “I’m modeling for one of his assignments.”

Frowning, Enjolras looks up at her after reading the assignment. “You didn’t actually say anything, though.”

“That’s nothing,” Marius comments lightly. “One time they were in here while you were in class and burst into ‘La Vie Boheme’ at the exact same time. I nearly pissed myself from fear.”

If it was anyone else the dynamic would worry him. Marius trusts Cosette absolutely, but he’s human and he occasionally has human failings (only occasionally, Cosette teased the first time he mentioned this, not often enough that anyone but them has to know), and he’s been jealous (irrationally, he knows) of Enjolras and Courfeyrac and Jehan and Bahorel and Feuilly and Combeferre, but not Grantaire. Never Grantaire. It’s only partially because Grantaire is utterly devoted to Enjolras.

Cosette and Grantaire simply _fit._

It seems like it would be cruel to begrudge them this in any way, and so when Cosette stands and grabs Grantaire’s hand so he can spin her before dipping her dramatically, only for the half of the café taken up by Les Amis can clap, Marius just grins. After a moment, Enjolras does the same.

\------

When Cosette finishes her paper on gender roles in Weimar cabaret performances Grantaire paints her as Marlene Dietrich, wearing his only suit with her hair in huge, impossible curls and a cigarette between her fingers. She even spends an hour tweezing her eyebrows until they’re the same shape and size, which is normally way too thin for her but, she says, she will sacrifice for Art.

He paints her again, this time in a floppy hat she has to hold up for him to see her face, wearing all white, from her dress to her stockings to her pumps, still as Marlene Dietrich. They’d talked about doing Marilyn Monroe but, as Cosette pointed out, _everyone_ would do Marilyn Monroe and if she was going to pose for him as a bombshell of a blonde she was going to be a hipster about it.

“Besides,” she’d pointed out, setting her tweezers down, “Marlene Dietrich was the _shit_ , man.”

She’s still in her dress and floppy hat when Bahorel and Feuilly arrive at Grantaire’s apartment with a case of beer and a bag of chips, and she stays in her dress and floppy hat when she takes a seat on the couch and Bahorel kneels in front of her so she can braid his hair for him (he’d started growing it out a little over a year ago so that he could cosplay Khal Drogo without a wig; upon meeting Cosette, he’d simply screamed “Daenerys!” across the Musain, while she shouted, “Drogo!” back. They’d met halfway and hugged so hard he lifted her, and from there on out, they were friends).

She loses her shoes an episode in, when she’s sitting squished between Grantaire and Bahorel on the couch, with Feuilly sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch between Bahorel’s knees. The hat is gone next, when she cringes and tucks her face into Grantaire’s shoulder when Ned kills Lady. They stop about four episodes in to order food, and she ends up wearing one of Grantaire’s flannel button-ups over the dress so she doesn’t stain it when she inevitably ends up dropping a piece of Szechuan beef on her chest; when they start up again they watch until the end of the season and Grantaire is sobbing openly into her shoulder while Bahorel practically crushes one hand and Feuilly has moved to lean against her legs so she can play with his hair.

“They will die screaming,” she promises solemnly, and somewhere, for some inexplicable reason, a room filled with HBO writers and executives all shiver simultaneously.

\------

Marius might be used to regularly losing his girlfriend for magical friendship shenanigans with her platonic soulmate but Enjolras is still in the stage where he thinks that if he pouts enough he can win, not yet realizing that the Cosette-Grantaire friendship is one of those inexplicable things that simply must be fact despite any attempts to use logic, reason, or science to disprove their necessity, like why there are two Dakotas instead of one big one, or why people watch (500) Days of Summer and don’t like Summer.

Which is why Enjolras is staring up at Grantaire with a scowl before covering his eyes with his hand. “It’s _early_ ,” he half-whines, his voice still husky with sleep. “And now the bed’s cold.”

“You are so _needy,_ ” Grantaire teases, but he’s smiling as he leans down to press a kiss to the tip of Enjolras’ nose. “I told you, breakfast with Cosette, and then we’re watching season two again.”

“I thought she didn’t like the show,” Enjolras groans, grabbing hold of Grantaire’s sleeve. “Come back to bed.”

“She didn’t. She didn’t even like the books that much. Bahorel made her watch it and she loved it the second time and after that, she ran with it, agreed to cosplay as Dany, the whole nine yards. I can’t, we’re supposed to meet in ten minutes and I’m already late.”

“You know she’s still in bed with Marius,” Enjolras points out, tugging at his hand, and this time Grantaire lets himself be pulled over Enjolras, who snakes his arms around his waist and yawns into his shoulder. “She is, isn’t she?”

“Probably,” Grantaire acquiesces, and Enjolras lets out a rumbling, throaty laugh that makes Grantaire shiver.

But then he’s shifting Grantaire off of him and sliding out of bed, saying, “I’m going to brush my teeth. I’ll be right back,” and Grantaire is almost too annoyed by the loss of him to fully appreciate that he’s going to brush his teeth—because Enjolras refuses to kiss when there’s morning breath involved—and then Enjolras is back in bed with his mouth fixed firmly on Grantaire’s, tugging the ink-haired man over him again until he’s cradled between his thighs.

“You taste like spearmint,” Grantaire mutters, and Enjolras hums against his mouth, still sleepy. He’d been up until almost four trying to finish a paper; it’s a wonder he’s awake at all, let alone kissing with that much enthusiasm.

Which, to be frank, isn’t entirely fair.

“You taste like coffee,” Enjolras shoots back before dragging his tongue along Grantaire’s jaw. “And you haven’t shaved. That’s not fair. You know I like how it feels when you haven’t shaved and you’ve got your face buried between my legs—”

“Come _on,_ Apollo, I have to go—”

“See, I’m not so convinced you do.”

“—you’re a terrible influence, I want you to know.”

“I really don’t think you mind all that much, considering that you’re taking your clothes off again.”

Grantaire gets to breakfast forty minutes late and actually, physically runs into Cosette outside the diner; her hair is almost as much of a mess as his, and they take one look at each other before dissolving in a fit of laughter.

“Busy morning?” she teases, and Grantaire snickers, offering her his arm.

\------

For her Women in Literature class Cosette pulls together a project called ‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’, in which Grantaire photographs her as Ophelia from _Hamlet_ (dressed in all white, flowers in her hair and in her hands and across her lap while she sings and as Anna Karenina from the book of the same name (her shoulders shaking as she weeps into a piece of a child’s clothing). She’s examining the problematic portrayal of mental illness in popular literature, comparing the two and how it’s used as a moral incentive—don’t get involved with men society dictates you shouldn’t get involved with or you’ll go mad, apparently—and only Cosette would come up with that but when she asks Grantaire for help, he’s all too happy to oblige.

He’s having a love affair with photography and, as per usual, Cosette is his favorite subject. She always is—he hates trying to draw Enjolras sometimes because Enjolras is so very _Enjolras_ , all divine grace and impossible beauty. Cosette is beautiful, without question, but it’s a more possible, human beauty, and it gives him chills sometimes. Enjolras is beautiful because he’s practically unreal; Cosette is beautiful because she can be touched, held, changed, marked. He tells her this when she asks, lying on his bed and looking through the photographs he’d taken of her, and she holds his hand and kisses him on the cheek before tucking herself against him and they fall asleep like that.

It’s impossible to take a bad picture of her, and he’s tried. She simply radiates light; she’s so fragile and finite sometimes, even though she’s strong and unbreakable and fierce, and he wants to capture that light every chance he can.

If they hadn’t found Marius and Enjolras there’s not a doubt in Grantaire’s mind that they’d simply spend the rest of their lives like this, curled up around each other and holding hands with a bunch of photographs and sketches spread around them, Cosette’s books taking up both pillows on his bed. Even the one time they’d slept together it hadn’t been romantic, it hadn’t even been sexual, it had just been a desire for intimacy and closeness.

Enjolras finds them like this, with Cat asleep between their feet, and smiles and takes a picture on his phone, which he sends to Marius, and Marius comes over to see for himself and the four of them end up having dinner together while Cosette talks about her project, Marius holding her hand and Grantaire playing with Enjolras’ hair.

\------

Marius has learned quickly since getting involved with Cosette. It’s been about three months since getting together; he still tastes like sunlight, even when she tastes sunlight itself every morning now that spring’s finally come. He kisses her lazily, like he could do this all day, and he _could_ ; she nuzzles his jaw and whispers into his skin and splays her hands across his back. Most often they’re gentle and soft and careful and kind with one another. They rarely fight, if they can avoid it; Cosette’s declared her dorm room the League of Nations, which makes Enjolras cringe because _the League of Nations wasn’t even that useful, Cosette, and the US wasn’t a part of it_ , to which she’d always respond _you’re missing the point, O Fearless Leader, now go kiss your boyfriend._

As the weather gets warmer, they get softer and lazier, and he maps out every inch of her skin with careful, curious lips that never seem to tire of learning her. Sometimes they simply lay together, talking, his fingers trailing along her arm and her nose wrinkling as she tells him about what she’s reading or who she thinks is full of shit in her classes. He makes her breakfast, she makes him coffee. They kiss between classes and sometimes when he comes into her dorm and she’s listening to Edith Piaf, he holds his hand out for her and pulls her close to dance and dance and dance, moving together the same way they always do.

They dance to ‘Cry Me A River’ on her birthday and she laughs because Marius actually quotes V for Vendetta to her as they sway, hips pressed to hips and his nose in her hair. There’s a vase of flowers on her windowsill and he snuck a bottle of white wine in and they sit on her floor and he toasts her with a smile and tells her he loves her.

When she kisses him he tastes like wine and he practically inhales her _I love you, too_ like mist.

\------

They throw Cosette a party and Jehan makes her a crown of flowers and presents her with a leather bound journal, in which he’s written her several poems, all of which make her cry. Bahorel shouts at her in Dothraki, one arm around Feuilly’s shoulders and the other around Grantaire’s; his nose is bleeding and his lip is split and he’s got a huge grin on his face so clearly, he’s having the time of his life. He made the cake and it’s absolutely massive, four huge layers that they’re all going to practically inhale.

Gavroche and Azelma are playing a video game while Courfeyrac cheers and tries to help Gavroche cheat while Combeferre mutters to Azelma exactly when to hit certain controls. Eponine and Enjolras hug her at the same time before Eponine flashes Marius an apologetic half-smile and tugs Cosette away with a kiss to her cheek and an arm around her waist. Joly is patching Bossuet up from where Cat attacked him, and Musichetta intercepts Enjolras and Marius to talk about some protest or another.

Eponine and Cosette step out together, standing outside Grantaire’s and Courfeyrac’s apartment building and sharing a beer. Finally, Eponine clears her throat and turns to Cosette.

“I’m glad we’re friends,” she says, and it’s so simple, so honest, so sincere, Cosette could cry. Instead, she reaches over and takes Eponine’s hand as Eponine continues. “I’m glad we found each other and I’m glad we’ve stuck together for so long and I don’t think I say this enough but I really do love you.”

Cosette sniffles and looks up to try and keep from crying, but she’s grinning. “I know,” she says softly. “I love you, too. And I’m really, really glad for you, too.”

They fight because of Enjolras and Grantaire sometimes, and they’ve fought because Marius before, and they fight because of their living space and sometimes they fight just to fight because they know that by day’s end they’ll love each other again, and that won’t ever change.

\------

“These really are gorgeous.”

Enjolras is hiding out in Grantaire’s bedroom—he loves their friends and he loves groups but sometimes he just likes the peace of being somewhere quiet but still surrounded by the happy chatter and laughter. He’s got one of Grantaire’s photographs in his hand and is examining it appreciatively as Grantaire approaches him, clearly on his way to drunk.

Grantaire takes the photograph and sets it down, sliding between Enjolras and his desk to slide his arms around Enjolras under his jacket and nuzzle Enjolras’ jaw. “I want to try making art again.”

“This _is_ art,” Enjolras protests, and Grantaire shakes his head.

“No, I mean, with you. I want you to model for me. I want to paint you. Not just me sketching you in margins of my notebooks when I’m not paying attention in class. We keep putting each other in the margins and you deserve a whole canvas.”

Grantaire is strangely open with him tonight; it might be the atmosphere of them celebrating, or the time he’s been spending with Cosette lately, but it’s sincere and earnest and Enjolras suddenly wants nothing more than to strip himself down to his bones so Grantaire can paint him without anything between them.

They’re standing in a dark room alone with a party on the other side of the door but their tongues clash and Grantaire’s hungry fingers hook around Enjolras’ belt loops as Enjolras curves his own hand around the back of Grantaire’s neck, his other palm pressed to the center of his chest.

They could stay there for hours.

They just might.

**Author's Note:**

> WOW I'm so sorry this took so long D: school eats your soul but mostly your time
> 
> Title from a Neil Gaiman speech for the graduating class of somewhere, 20something, where he said that they key to living well was to take what happened and "make good art". The paper idea was from tumblr user creepyowly. Huge thanks to Emily (jehans) and Kaitlyn (villainyandgoodcheekbones) for their help with reading this over and nicely pointing out inconsistencies and typos
> 
> HEY HAVE SOME AMAZING ART  
> -it's Mary Kate and Grantaire I'm going to cry  
> -http://jen-suis.tumblr.com/post/45505764114/mary-kate-and-grantaire-c-i-really-wanted-to  
> -http://jen-suis.tumblr.com/post/45483516409/omg-so-i-said-i-can-draw-sth-for-ani-and-she-said  
> -http://martinaellysmith.tumblr.com/post/45376102691/trtmb-doodle  
> -http://femmenjolras.tumblr.com/post/45007464209/talk-revolution-to-me-baby  
> -http://caroll-in.tumblr.com/post/44649230363/ot3jmb  
> -http://jen-suis.tumblr.com/post/44593540376/i-realised-ive-never-drawn-jehan-and-courf-and-i  
> -http://tazioparrish.tumblr.com/post/44566050424/say-it-back-part-10-of-the-talk-revolution-to
> 
> and wow how many playlists can we have?  
> answer: A LOT  
> -http://theonewhowrites.tumblr.com/post/44794136974/bossuet-joly-and-musichetta-playlist-based  
> -http://theonewhowrites.tumblr.com/post/44793969346/combeferre-and-eponine-playlist-based-on-talk  
> -http://theonewhowrites.tumblr.com/post/44793859737/courfeyrac-and-jehan-playlist-based-on-talk  
> -http://theonewhowrites.tumblr.com/post/44793248779/enjolras-and-grantaire-playlist-based-on-talk  
> -http://theonewhowrites.tumblr.com/post/44793744745/marius-and-cosette-playlist-based-on-talk  
> -http://molesque.tumblr.com/post/45048217078/courf-et-jehan-a-talk-revolution-to-me-baby
> 
> This was just a shameless excuse to make these tags http://duskjolras.tumblr.com/post/44900397700 into a friendship fic because WOW babies c:
> 
> anyway I love you all a whole lot? and you're amazing and lovely and wonderful and this is so much fun and I love interacting with you all. I've been getting some great questions re: the 'verse so if you have any, drop by my blog and leave me an ask? and if you want to make a playlist or graphic or something, message me or tag it with "duskjolras" or "talk revolution to me baby" or "trtmb" in one of the first five tags?
> 
> ALSO ALSO as requested I'm starting to move my TRTMB drabbles onto here, in another, separate series. :)
> 
> ahhh I love you all I hope you have a wonderful day and you get to cuddle the baby animal of your choosing


End file.
